San Jose Road Project Earns Greenroads Bronze Rating

It is the first in California to achieve Greenroads certification, the Greenroads Foundation announced.

Aug 09, 2013

The Monterey Road Reconstruction Project in San Jose, Calif., has become the first project to achieve Greenroads certification in the state, the Greenroads Foundation recently announced. The project earned a Greenroads Bronze Rating for its design and construction sustainability efforts.

The 2.1-mile project aligns with the city of San Jose's "Green Vision" goals and sustainability policies. Project Engineer Patrick Hess, who worked for San Jose’s Infrastructure Maintenance Division when the project was undertaken, said the Greenroads Rating "demonstrates that San Jose and its IMD are being progressive in environmental areas. Taking a leadership role, combined with the size of our street network -- largest in the Bay Area -- will lead to new green technologies being used more often in the San Francisco Bay region."

The Greenroads Rating System is a collection of sustainable roadway design and construction best practices related to water, environment, access, community impact, construction practices, and materials. Eleven project requirements must be completed in order for a roadway to be considered a Greenroad, and there are 37 Voluntary Credits that a project team can choose to pursue. After a review, the foundation assigns a score that places it in one of four certification levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Evergreen. The Monterey project's score was 35 points.

Hess said the process "put us in touch with noise measurement engineers, environmental design folks, and San Jose street lighting crew, just to name a few. These aspects would never have been explored without the Greenroads prompting."

Pavement reconstruction using cold-in-place recycling was employed; this reuses the existing pavement and thereby saves money on fuel to transport materials and truck emissions. The city was able to save 23 percent on the project's overall costs.

The project certification award is scheduled to be presented to the City Council of San Jose on Aug. 20 by Jeralee Anderson, executive director of the foundation. For information, visit www.greenroads.org.